Sunday, July 23, 2017

Over the past ten(!) years that I've been writing the ExhibiTricks blog, I've conducted interviews with museum folks from around the world. I always love going back to these interviews to be reminded of the various practitioners and points-of-view in the museum business. (You can do a search on "interviews" in the search box on the right-hand side of the ExhibiTricks front page to peruse my "back catalog.")

One of my favorite questions to put to interviewees is: If money were no object, what would your “dream” exhibit project be?

But I'd like to open this question up to all ExhibiTricks readers --- If money were no object, what would your “dream” exhibit project be? Please let us know in the "Comments" section at the bottom of this post.

I've been thinking about "dream projects" a lot lately, so I've gathered up some responses to that question from some great museum folks that I've interviewed on the blog previously and included them below:

Erika Kiessner: I would love to do a science exhibitionabout a city, embedded in the city landscape. I imagine walk-up exhibits onstreetcorners and points of interest that draw your attention to something inthe vicinity and give a science-based explanation for it. Fromarchitecture towind patterns, local flora to material properties, there are elements of a citythat are easy to take for granted even if thereare fascinating explanationsfor them.

For example, in Toronto one of the big downtown office buildings has acantilevered portion that suspends 13 stories over the sidewalk. An exhibitthere might draw an area on theground with the statement “Standing here thereare XX thousand pounds of concrete suspended above you!” Then an explanationabout how the building is constructed to supportthe structure overhead.

Dan Spock: I’ve got tons of them in reserve, but the most impractical one I’ve always wanted to do is a combination museum and resorthotel where you’d get to live, sleep and eat in the museum. It would have guestrooms, lounges, restaurants, a pool, a bar, a day spa, all ofwhich are a partof game-like exhibits you can party in around the clock with other guests. Themuseum could be about anything, but maybeit would be about a journey ofself-realization. Something about the choices you make in life and where theylead you, a place where you canexperiment with alternative paths andidentities you’d never dare take in real life.Jamie Glavic: My dream museum project would be to host a part Dirty Jobs,part How It’s Made, part Mysteries at the Museum. Theshow would highlight off the beaten path, interesting destinations/hidden gemsaroundthe world/the untold stories behind collections. The show could betitled, "It Belongs in a Museum!" It could also highlight the manymuseum jobs that exist outside the realm ofcurator, docent, and director.Hmmm...maybe "You Belong in a Museum" would be better.

Clifford Wagner:I’dlove to put together a team to make an exhibit that helps people really thinkabout their place in the world and how we can help achieve sustainable wellbeingfor all people and for the planet. I sincerely believe we have theknowledge to do so. It wouldn’t be an easy exhibit to create—it’s a toughtopic. But I can’t imagine anything moreimportant. For me, the most important question of all is How areyou helping? How are you helping all of us have quality lives? Forus working inmuseums, the way we help is to make things that enrich ourvisitors’ lives. We help visitors understand science phenomena, we makecreative spaces where kids play and grow.

Carol Bossert: I don’t think it is a matter of money,women in sciencethat have won the Nobel Prize. Each of these women tells afascinating story, sometimes just because their lives seemed so ordinary yetthey made extraordinary contributions to science. I also think they wouldserve to put real faces onspecific scientific achievements and this would helpmake science more accessible and interesting to many.

Jason Jay Stevens: I'd like to cast a set of giant ceramicupright bells.For centuries, the Chinese used hand bells to measure the volume of dry goodsin the marketplace; there were strict regulations for the making of the bellsand particular notesrepresented particular quantities. I love this overtcorrespondence between two seemingly disparate things: sound and quantity. Soeach of my giant bells would correspond to aparticular standard volume("one cubic meter," "one hundred bottles of beer,""boot space in a 1954 VW Beetle"). We can call the exhibit "TheWell-Tempered Volume."

Is money really no object? The bells would be mounted on gimbal yokes of solidoak, installed beneath a great pavilion, surrounded by gardens organized in ataxonomic maze,and full of sonorous sculptures activated by wind and water.

Really really no object? I would like to make a second set of these bells andinstall it in the Antarctic. Wouldn't it be nice to know there is a set ofgiant upright bells on the bottom of the world?!

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